Isaac Beevor: “At the moment College Sport is a problematic system”

Following his successful campaign run in this year’s YUSU Elections, Nouse Sport decided to have a chat with the new face of the York Sport Union.

Currently Wellbeing Officer with the Union, Beevor takes over from Grace Clarke next academic year, and has some big shoes to fill. We found out what Beevor thought of the campaign race, how he feels about taking up his new role, and what he hopes to change in York Sport.

Why did you want to run for Sports President?

I took quite a while to make the decision to run as I wanted to make sure I had seriously considered every aspect. In the end I realised I was passionate about sport at the University and thought I knew how to improve sport here to push it onto the next level.

How did you feel your campaign went in the run up to the elections?

I thought my campaign went quite well. It was a real slog for about two weeks but fortunately I had some really good people around me who helped me so much. I had a really tight circle of friends who were with me every step of the way and I had to borrow the expertise of others, such as Dan Howarth who filmed my videos, in order to have what I thought would be the successful campaign. As everyone who ran knows you had to dedicate yourself fully but with all the help I had I thought my campaign went quite well.

What was the message you wanted to convey?

I hoped I conveyed my passion for sport here at the University for all levels: college and University. Also I want to continue the push for greater inclusivity in sport which has been my role as the Wellbeing Officer on the York Sport Committee for the past year.

Did you expect to win?

I don’t know if anyone expects to win but with all the help I had got and the support I felt I was getting from people that I talked to I went into the election night hopeful that I could win it.

How are you feeling now that you have got the position?

To be honest I’m quite nervous about the whole experience. It’s a little bit of an unknown but I have already started thinking of ways to implement policies which is quite exciting. This can be quite distracting from the degree I am meant to complete.

What was the whole experience of running for Sports President like? Would you recommend it?

It was quite nerve-wracking having to speak to lots of people and try to convince them about why they should vote for me. But overall it was a positive experience for me and it was heart warming to see the amount of help that I got.

Has Grace given you any advice going into this?

Grace was really nice and I did put a few policies past her to see if they would be possible to do but apart from that I didn’t get too much advice from Grace.

What are your main target areas for sport in York?

I think in terms of College Sport, funding has to be secured in order to put some money into a system which is desperate for it. I also want to give greater support to the College Sport Activators and Reps in order for them to feel confident to drive college sport on.

I also want to promote inclusivity at College and University level with the expansion of Equal Opportunities. I want to start up a York Sport Talks initiative to bring prominent people from the sporting world to inspire and encourage everyone here.

And of course, with a home Roses, I want to make that weekend as big as it can possibly be!

What will you be continuing from Grace’s reign?

I think Grace has been really good in trying to involve everyone in the sporting world and I would love to continue that through promotion of all sports clubs. Having worked with Grace on the committee I have seen how hard she has worked.

Is there anything drastic you are planning on changing or bringing to the table?

I think where the biggest improvement can be made is with College Sport.

At the moment it is a problematic system and I think the biggest thing that needs to be improved upon apart from funding is that everyone – Activators, Reps and clubs – need to be on the same page in order to improve College Sport at the University.